While this Rand study highlights the crisis in America's emergency departments, many of the findings are equally true for EMS systems across the country. EMS leaders should work with national and state associations to advocate for scientific, evidence-based system redesign to help assure EMS system sustainability. Click the link below to view a recent AIMHI webinar on "Emergency Medical Services Delivery – Expectation vs. Reality". https://lnkd.in/gV4QkiKn ----------------------- 𝐄𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐲, 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐝 Hayley DeSilva April 06, 2025 https://lnkd.in/gwzEm26P 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭: "If we want [to maintain] this 24/7 service that we have right now, in the form that we have where everyone comes, and it doesn't matter if you can pay or not.. then we really have to proactively do something as a country," said Dr. Mahshid Abir, lead author of the report and senior policy researcher for Rand. "The current level of dependence on the [emergency departments], the value they offer [along] with the challenges they've faced, is not going to be sustainable." "Pay is another contributing factor to burnout. The report highlights that physician pay per visit is down and has not kept up with inflation over the years." ""I mean, if you're not paying people well to do this really difficult work, people who graduate from medical schools, maybe the better students, with the higher grades, they may not want to go into emergency medicine, and maybe then ERs are staffed with people who just are scrambling to just find some kind of residency," Abir said." "Emergency department are seeing a higher number of patients who are either uninsured or cannot pay for care. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1986 compels emergency departments to treat these patients." "This mandate causes funding gaps and threatens the sustainability of emergency departments, said Rand researchers. Commercial, Medicare and Medicaid insurance payments are inadequate to cover the costs of providing care to those populations." "Additionally, Rand researchers reviewed data from revenue cycle management companies and found that insurance administrators regularly underpay or deny payment for significant portions of what they're obligated to pay. The report found that 20% of all emergency physician expected payments go unpaid across all payer types, totaling roughly $5.9 billion per year of unpaid physician services." PWW Advisory Group
